“If you want to reap financial blessings, you have to sow financially.” –Joel Osteen
When I was in college, I’ve already heard a lot of things about the stock market. Some people got rich through investing in it (and it sounds cool right?). In my early 20s, I decided to open a mutual fund with SunLife. I want to play it safe, but I realised years after that growth is slow, not to mention there were times the market wasn’t doing good. Fast forward, when I started working again here in England, I finally decided to open up a COL Financial account April of this year.
There are different types of financial tools to grow your money. I’ve tried mutual funds but now I wanted to take risks and try the stock market. COL Financial is an online stockbroker in the Philippines that lets an investor buy shares of public companies. You can open an account for as low as 5,000 pesos and start buying shares from a wide range of companies. I chose COL because of the positive feedback I’ve been getting from friends. So far in my experience, I’ve never had any problems with them.
Stock market is a high risk type of investment but it is rewarding when you do it right. I follow a very simple principle which is ‘Buy a lot of shares when the price is low, and only sell when the price is right’. Stock market has its ups and downs so you need to be careful with your emotions. I’ve seen some people who easily panic when the market is down, they let their emotions decide and sell their shares for loss.
As a pinay living abroad, I wanted to prepare for long-term. Saving isn’t enough. It is good but only for emergency purposes. If you want it to grow, then start investing. However, I don’t recommend investing without any savings in case of emergencies. Remember, profit doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and patience.
Employment isn’t forever and we can’t keep on working for the rest of our lives. Money isn’t everything, but it’s hard to live without any money in your wallet. One of the things I’ve learned in my almost 30 years of existence is start saving and investing when you’re still young, it will pay off in the long run. You will be able to afford your wants (in moderation of course!) without waiting for that next payday.
This post is solely based on my experience. Invest at your own risk. Please do your research as investing in the stock market doesn’t guarantee profits.
